T-minus 1 WEEK until SURGERY!! ACK!

Bonjourno.

So today marks 1 week until my jaw surgery. For those of you just joining the conversation (pretty one sided at this point), I am having jaw surgery consisting of Lefort One Osteotomy and Genioplasty at 10 am on Friday, August 20th. OMFG.

These past several weeks I've been doing everything to prepare for the surgery... which means a lot of appointments and a lot of trips to Costco/Walmart/Drugstores, etc.

Here is a list of appointments I had to go to to prepare for my surgery:

• Orthodontist appointment for molds to make the surgical wires (3 weeks pre-surgery)
• Family Doctor appointment to ensure I'm healthy enough for surgery and to take blood tests (3 - 4 weeks pre-surgery)
• Oral Surgeon appointment to take all of the x-rays, molds, measurements and to prepare me for what is to come (3 weeks prior but can be up to 1 week before)
• Dentist appointment to make my teeth so fresh and so clean, clean (1 week before to ensure optimal cleanliness before the surgery)
• Hospital consultation to register me for my overnight stay and to explain the schedule of events and details on medications, etc. (1-2 weeks before)
• ANOTHER Orthodontist appointment to put on the surgical wires - which is happening on Monday

The appointment I enjoyed the least was the one where I had to pay for my Oral Surgery fees (a large lump sum)... that hurt the bank a bit. AND then all the stuff I had to buy to prepare! Who knew surgery (supposedly covered by my government) would cost me so much in the end.

The appointment with my Oral Surgeon, Dr. R, was the most important one for me because him and his team explained everything that I need to know about the surgery. Here are some points of how timelines are supposed to go:

Night before/day of surgery

• I am not allowed to eat or drink anything after midnight (min. 8 hours prior to surgery) - you best believe I'm eating a HUGE steak and heaps of desert the night before!!!
• Must shower before the surgery (duh.)
• I am not allowed to wear any make up, nail polish or jewellery for the surgery
• Be at the hospital 2 hours prior to surgery - I'll have to check in by 8 am. Dr. R was kind enough to make my surgery early enough in the morn that I won't be crying of hunger.

Day 1-5

• Surgery on August 20th at 10 am. Should take no longer than 2 hours, with 1 hour in the recovery room and an overnight stay
• Elastics are used to keep my mouth closed and in place during this period of time. The one good thing is that I WILL NOT have a SPLINT! I've heard that many people need this to help keep their bite in place, but apparently I will not)
• CLEAR liquid diet up until Day 5 - which is primarily consists of WATER, broth, juice, ginger ale, Gatorade and anything else I can think of which is clear. This is recommended so that nothing gets stuck in the wounds/brackets and you don't need to brush your teeth - which may cause damage to the said wounds/brackets. I asked Dr. R about hunger during this period and he said your not really that hungry because of all the medications - but I have to ensure I drink LOTS (min. 2 litres) of water a day to stay hydrated.
• Allowed to shower on Day 2 (apparently your too weak to take a shower on the day of the surgery)
• Icing my face to help the swelling until Day 3 or 4, then moving on to warm packs on the face. Apparently the swelling is at it's worst on Day 4 and subsides from there

Day 5-10

• Liquid diet still - but now I'm allowed to drink non-clear items (i.e. boost, strained smoothies, ice cream, strained soup, etc.)
• 1 week post-op is on Friday, August 27th. I go to Dr. R's office and they do a full check up to see how I'm healing!
• Dr. R will remove the elastics from the surgery and I will get new elastics (which I may have to start replacing myself). This means I may be able to take them off when I'm eating/drinking
• I will be allowed to brush my teeth after 1 week! Wahoo!!! A children's toothbrush is recommended because it's soft and small enough to get in your mouth with all the swelling
• Face/jaw exercises to get your jaw back into shape! (I'll probably make a fun video of this to entertain you all)

Day 10-15

• Can start eating soft foods (i.e. baby food, oatmeal, non-strained soups, etc.)... basically anything that doesn't involve chewing
• Most of the swelling should be gone by the end of the 2nd week. There may be 10-20% swelling until up to 2 months post-op
• Jaw goal by the end of 2 weeks is to be able to open your mouth by 2 finger breadths
• 2 week post-op appointment with Dr. R to be scheduled

Day 16-30

• Allowed to start gentle exercising (I'm not allowed to exert myself yet - so no heading back to the gym). They say walking is great and light weights
• Jaw goal by the end of 3 weeks is to be able to open your jaw 3 finger breadths (which right now I can do 3 1/2 finger breadths - so that's almost fully open)
• 4-week post-op with Dr. R to be scheduled

Day 30-90

• Full exercising is allowed after 1 month - which means I can start going back to the gym!
• 6-week post-op with Dr. R to be scheduled
• After 6 weeks, my Orthodontist is allowed to start working on my teeth again! He said best case scenario my braces can be off 6 months post-op if all goes well!
• All swelling should be gone after 2 months
• Light chewing can commence after about 2 months
• I will be able to make a dentist appointment to get my teeth all cleaned up and back in tip top shape!
• 3 months is the time when everything should be healed and back to normal!

Here are a list of items I've bought so far to prepare:

• Chicken/beef broth
• Gatorade
• Prune juice
• Boost
• Tylenol Extra Strength (I was supposed to buy the children's liquid Tylenol but it would have cost me a fortune with the amount I was supposed to take. I will just be grinding up the capsules and mixing it with my codeine - YUM!)
• Vitamin E capsules (to help with my skin after the surgery - from all the pulling and bruising that is to come)
• Children's sippy cup (to try to stop me from slobbering all over myself - which I'm sure will be a sight to see!)
• Children's spoons (they are soft and small - easier to feed yourself mush)
• Children's tooth brush (actually got this at the dentist for free... schwing - this will help when I'm allowed to start brushing my teeth and my face is still all swollen)
• Saline nasal spray (I heard this will come in very useful after the surgery when my nose is all stuffy and I can't blow it)
• White board (it will save me from having to speak and i can draw fun inappropriate pictures to entertain my best friend Claire who's coming to take care of me for a week)
• Wash clothes & paper towel (to ensure my slobbering only goes as far as my chin)
• Bed Rest Pillow (possibly the ugliest pillow I've ever seen, but so fun at the same time. See below! I need to sleep in an upright position, so I heard that this is a really good way to help with that)
• Baby food (for 10-days post-surgery when I can apparently start eating mush instead of pure liquid)
• Frozen fruit (to make delicious smoothies after 10-days post-op
  Large Zip Lock bags (to help with the feeding process - can squeeze them to push liquid into mouth - aka like when you ice a cake - since I won't be able to use a straw)

Items I still need to purchase:

• Gravol (the kind that dissolves in your mouth)
• Salt (to mix with water and use as a mouth wash several times a day - they gave me the medical mouth wash, but they advised to use the salt/water mix often to help keep the bacteria at bay)
• Medicated lip balm (to ensure my lips don't get all chapped and gross-a-tating)
• Ginger ale (a clear liquid I'm allowed to drink for the 1st 5 days)
• MAGAZINES!!!!
• lots of other stuff I can't think of right now

Well kiddies, that is all the goods I can think of right now - it's late and way too hot in my apartment to have a laptop on me any longer.

I must bid you adieu. I can promise that you will have A LOT more reading material from my blog in next few weeks because I will be posting almost everyday post-op. I will also post pre-op photos and a video once I get the surgical wires on on Monday!

Ask any questions you may have and thank you so very much for taking the time to read my blog :)

Alexis